YogaVasishta Upashama Prakaranam--Part-4.pdf

7/29/2019 YogaVasishta Upashama Prakaranam--Part-4.pdf

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YOGA

VAASISHTA

A PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISE

COMPOSED BY

VAALMIKI MAHARSHI

ESSENCE OF YOGAVAASISHTA

Compiled by

Tejasvini


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INTRODUCTION

Unlike the devotional texts describing Prahlaada as a child-devotee of God, who forced

the NaraSimha incarnation of Vishnu to descend down to kill HiranyakaShipu his

father, this version of the sacred scripture authored by Sage Vaalmiki gives a slightlydifferent version of the same.Here Prahlaada as the son of a demon is not an angel by birth, but a devoted son of

HiranyakaShipu who supported his father in all his ventures. He also took part in all the

wars against the Gods and was very much favored by his father among all other sons he

had of different wives.

When Gods are unable to fight the demons, Lord Vishnu takes the form of Nara-Simha

(man-lion) and kills HiranyakaShipu. Shocked by the death of his dear father, Prahlaada

starts wondering about the so-called Vishnu who always had proved himself to be a thorn

for the demon-clan. If Vishnu could be subdued, the gods would be nothing in front of

the demon prowess. Prahlaada decides that Vishnu is the strongest foe and should be

somehow conquered in a different way than a direct attack on him. He starts to imagine

himself as Vishnu so that he would be as mighty as Vishnu. But as he meditates on

Vishnu as his Self, his evil Vaasanaas vanish and he is filled with devotion for the

mighty Lord. He becomes a staunch devotee of Vishnu forcing all his people also to

become Vishnu-devotees.

Pleased by his devotion, Lord Vishnu appears in person in front of Prahlaada and

instructs him to do Self-enquiry and thus realize the Self. Obeying the words of the Lord,

Prahlaada contemplates sincerely on the meaning of Universe, Self etc and slips into

Nirvikalpa Samaadhi. For countless years he remains absorbed in the Self. Alarmed by

the statue-like state of their king, the demons seek the help of their deity Vishnu. Vishnu

appears; blows his conch and wakes up Prahlaada; instructs him to rule the demon world

as a JeevanMukta and vanishes. Prahlaada acts accordingly ending the age-old enmity of

the gods and demons.

This story brings in the question of whether God can give self-knowledge just through a

boon and favor his devotee. Sage Vasishta proves that God can help only if the devotee

also puts in a sincere effort and follows the regular path of dispassion and discrimination;

and that Prahlaada was able to reach the Supreme state not by the boon of Vishnu, but by

his own effort.

OM TAT SAT


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UPASHAMA PRAKARANAM

SECTION V PART FOUR

QUIESCENCE

CHAPTER ONE

Vasishta spoke

||

Now, Rama listen as to what methods the demon king Prahlaada followed

in the attainment of knowledge and how he attained the Supreme state!

In the nether world, there was a demon named HiranyakaShipu, whom all the gods and

demons feared. He had conquered all the three worlds. Indras heaven was under his

control. He had many sons. Prahlaada became the crown prince among them.

HiranyakaShipu shined forth as a great king because of this son of his, like the year by

the spring. Supported by his valor he was able to conquer any world he pleased and he

grew highly arrogant like a mad elephant with the ichor oozing in three lines.

The gods suffered under his attack like hit by the twelve suns of dissolution. They bore

with all this patiently like the relatives by the pranks of a boy. They requested Brahma to

help them. Even great people cannot bear repeated offenses!

Lord Vishnu took the terrifying form of NaraSimha (man-lion) and killed the demon

HiranyakaShipu. The entire demon city was burnt by the fire emanating from his eyes.

The demons ran from there like mosquitoes caught in a fire and vanished out of sight.With the harem of the emperor in ashes, the whole of the nether world was immersed in

grief, like the world destroyed by dissolution and the demons who were left back were

unable to bear the loss of their great king. After the NaraSimha form was pacified by the

prayers of the Gods, Lord Vishnu returned to his abode, his work completed. Prahlaada

and others returned to the burnt city and performed the funeral rites for the dead king and

consoled the grieving demons.


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CHAPTER TWO

Vasishta spoke

After hisfather died, Prahlaada sat in his private room silently and feeling very muchgrieved thought like this-

What can be done in the future? Whenever the demons sprout up, Hari destroys them

immediately like a monkey destroying the grassland.

Never do the demons lead a stable life like the lotuses in the icy mountains.

They continuously get killed by the gods.

Now the demons live in such a pathetic state! Fie on the fate!

The womenfolk jump with fear even if a leaf moves behind them!

All the divine trees bearing clusters of diamond flowers now stand broken by that Man-

lions hands.

The Kalpa tree has been again taken back by those Gods and planted in their garden.

The heavenly damsels entertained us then; now our girls have become slaves in the

heavenly abodes. As these imprisoned demon-girls adorn themselves with various

ornaments and fragrant pastes, their eyes are always carrying tears as part of their

decorations. All this was caused by that valorous Hari!

Now the gods are enjoying all the luxuries which should belong rightfully to us, the

mighty conquerors.

And these gods are supported by that one undefeatable God Vishnu!

He has been helping them whenever they were in trouble!

He alone has killed all our fathers and fore-fathers!

Backed up by that powerful God, Indra attacks the demons like a monkey attacking the

boys.

That lotus-eyed God cannot be defeated even if he is without his weapons.

He cannot be killed by any weapons or magical missiles.

Many of my mighty ancestors have tried to conquer him in vain! How can he be made to

fear us now? He is invincible!

There is only one way to defeat him. I think that this trick will not fail.

He is the only shelter that can be sought for.

There is no one better than him in all the three worlds.He is the cause of the dissolution and creation of the worlds.

From this moment I will meditate on Shree Naaraayana.

I will see everywhere only Naaraayana!

The chant Namo Naaraayana will fulfill all the desires.


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||

Hari is the directions. Hari is the sky.

Hari is the earth. Hari is the world.I am Hari, the un-afflicted god. I am filled by the essence of Hari.

||

A person who is not the Vishnu cannot attain the fruits of worshipping Vishnu.

I will worship Vishnu as Vishnu. I am Vishnu here now.

s ||

Hari alone is the arrogant Prahlaada.

There is no separate being as Hari.

Ascertained in this way, I am pervading everywhere.

||

Garuda, the son of Vinataa fills the entire sky which stretches endlessly.

This golden bird is now the seat for me!

{In this manner, Prahlaada contemplated on himself as Vishnu.

Step by step, without leaving out any details, he imagined himself to be the Great Vishnu,

the Supreme Lord of all. He conceived all the ornaments, the Milk Ocean and even

Goddess Lakshmi as seated next to him.}

{Prahlaada thinks}

Here are the countless worlds in my belly, which have been and are and will be.

My feet are on the earth. My head is in the sky. My body is the tri-worlds. The quarters

are my abdomen.I am Vishnu in person. All the wicked ones are running away from me.

Who can rise against me? I can burn away all the three worlds.

These demons and gods cannot affect my creation in any way.

I am the Supreme Lord Vishnu.

Brahma, Indra, Agni, and Shiva are propitiating me and praising me with hymns.

I own all the prosperities. I am unconquerable.

I transcend all the dualities by my Supreme prowess.


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CHAPTER THREE

Vasishta spoke

Prahlaada contemplated on himself (his body) as Vishnu and was now filled with only the

thought of Vishnu.

He thought again-

The form only is that of Vishnu now. But inside I am the same Prahlaada.

That is not enough.

The Praana flowing inside this body makes me feel different from the external form of

Vishnu. Let me worship that form then.

So thinking he started to offer worship to the form of Vishnu as different from him in his

own mind. Again and again he conceived the complete ritualistic worship and felt very

happy.

Then he started offering worship to the Lord in the temple. All the demons under his

control also became devotees of Vishnu.

The news reached the heavens that the demons all have developed devotion for Vishnu

and they maintained no hatred towards the gods anymore. Indra and the groups of Marutgods were extremely surprised and wondered for what reason the demons had become

devotees of Vishnu.

The surprised gods approached Vishnu who was lolling on the bed of serpent and

reported the wondrous news of demons turning into devotees of the Lord.


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CHAPTER FOUR

Gods spoke

||

What is this O Lord?

The demons who have fought you all this time now act like devotees.

It appears that they are deceiving us.

||

Where the devotion to the Lord that is possible

only after performing meritorious deeds in many births?

And where the mountain-breaking demons, extremely wicked by nature?

||

The news that a wretched mean person has become noble

is like the sudden appearance of a flower garland at unsuitable hours.

It fills one with happiness and also apprehension.

||

The object placed in an unsuitable place will not shine ever,

like a valuable gem dumped along with glass pieces.

||


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Whatever quality one has, one joins those people who have those very qualities.

A dog cannot feel comfortable in the midst of goats,

though they are same animal speciers.

||

Even getting pierced by diamond needles does not hurt as much

as seeing the wrong combination of objects!

s ||

That which is properly obtained, suitable, and blameless,

that alone shines there.

The lotus is beautiful blooming in the waters, not on the ground.

: ||

Where that worthless demon of a low (Taamasic) origin,

who is the worst species ever born,

who is produced in unrefined ordinary family,

who chases after worst crimes,

and where the devotion of Vishnu?!

s ||

One cannot be pleased to hear that a lotus grows in a dried up unfertile land

and blossoms beautifully.

The news that demons (Ditis sons) are Vishnus devotees does not please us much.


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CHAPTER FIVE

Vasishta spoke

Lord Vishnu smiled at the complaining Gods and said these words like the cloud

addressing the peacocks.

Lord spoke

Gods! Do not worry about the fact that Prahlaada has become a devotee.

This is his final birth. He deserves the state of liberation. He is like a burnt seed and no

more will enter a womb and be born.

||

If a man of virtues loses his character, it leads to problems.

If a man without character develops virtues, it ends up in good.

O Excellent Gods, worlds belonging to me have many such wonders.You all can go now.

The news about Prahlaada does not displease me in the least!

Having said this, Lord Vishnu immediately vanished from his seat on the serpent hoods.

The gods returned home feeling respectful towards Prahlaada as the Lord himself had

been pleased by his character change.

||

Where the great ones feel no cause for apprehension,the minds of the others trust them and feel relieved!


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CHAPTER SIX

Vasishta spoke

Meanwhile Prahlaada was continuously engaged in the worship of Lord Vishnu.

Lord Vishnu filled his mind, words and actions.

Slowly he developed virtues like dispassion, discrimination, cheerful nature etc.

He felt no more interested in sense pleasures like feeling averse towards dried up trees.

He avoided women like the deer avoiding places crowded by men.

He liked nothing else but the studies of scriptures.

He had lost interest in the sense pleasures; yet as he had not found the final state ofBrahman, his mind was as if oscillating, stuck neither here nor there.

Lord Vishnu understood the state of his devotees mind and appeared in front of him in

his worship-room. Feeling extremely happy Prahlaada worshipped the Lord of his heart

who was directly in front of him. He recited various hymns praising the Lord to his

hearts content.

Pleased by his love and devotion, Lord addressed him like the cloud addressing the

peacock.


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CHAPTER SEVEN

Lord spoke

||

Hey crest jewel of the demon clan!

Ask for anything that will free you from the pain of repeated births.

Prahlaada spoke

||

Lord! You can bestow any fruit one asks for!

You remain as the essence of all!

Whatever is beneficial to me, tell that O Lord!

Lord spoke

s ||

O Taintless one!

To attain the supreme fruit and to subdue all these pompous affairs,

be engaged in Enquiry till you rest in the state of Brahman!

Having spoken thus, Lord Vishnu vanished from sight, like a wave disappears into the

ocean after making a gurgling noise.


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CHAPTER EIGHT

Vasishta spoke

Prahlaada offered the flowers at the feet of the statue of Lord Vishnu.

He sat on his seat on Padmaasana (lotus-posture); and as if reciting hymns in the mind, he

started to think as the Lord had instructed.

Prahlaada spoke

{Prahlaada follows the Enquiry Method as instructed by Vishnu}

s ||

I have been told by the Enemy of delusory appearance of the world

You become a person endowed with rational enquiry.

Therefore I will now analyze the Self in my mind.

s

||

Who am I on this stage-show of this world?

I speak; walk; stay and do effort to enjoy the sense pleasures.

||

I am not the world with objects like tree, grass and mountain.

How can I be that which is completely outside of me?

||


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I am not the body perceived outside of me. It is not real.

It is inert and moves by the wind-force every second.

And it will just die one day. I am not that non-conscious thing.

{Prahlaada discards at first all the sense-perceptions as inert and not the Self}

I am not the sound rising in the sky.

It rises out of the inert auditory organ and dies the moment it is produced.

It is of the nature of void; rises in the void;

I am not the sound which is non-conscious.

I am not the touch felt by the skin which is inert by nature.

It is destroyed the moment it is produced.

It is just the contact obtained by the grace of Chit.I am not the non-conscious touch.

I am not the non-conscious taste.

It is bound by the tongue which moves continuously. It is a base pleasure.

It is bound to the object outside.

I am not the form which depends on the eye.

It is destroyed the moment it is produced.

It is only for the eye of the Seer.

I am not the non-conscious form.

I am not the smell conceived by the blind inert nose.

It fades away and has no particular nature of its own.

I am not the non-conscious smell.

{Prahlaada contemplates on the Self as all Gods}

s

||

I am bereft of the mind. I have no cogitations. I am quiet.

I have lost the delusion of the five senses.

I am pure consciousness only.

I am completely bereft of all faults and appearances.


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||

By this consciousness,

all these pots and cloths etc are revealed in the sunlightas if by the excellent luster of the lamp.

||

Ah! I now remember the truth!

All this is the shine of the Chit bereft of any perturbation.

I am the Self! I am in all!

s

||

Here I am, I move in the sky with the beautiful body of the Sun;

and as Vaayu (wind) also in another body that belongs to Vaayu!

||

This bluish hued body of mine holding the conch, discus and mace,

the extreme limit of all prosperities,

moves about in the world attending to all.

ss

s ||

I now have the form of the tri-eyed God,

the bee hovering around the lotus face of Gouri.

I destroy everything at the end of creation,

like a tortoise destroying its skin-sheath.

||


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With the form of Indra, I take care of the tri-world

which is handed over to one Manu after the other,

like the recluse taking care of his hut (owned by the previous dwellers)!

||

Whatsoever is perceived as the world with its moving and non-moving objects,

I am the principle of Chit shining forth as all that;

yet I am bereft of all conceptions.

{Prahlaada understands the misled ways of his ancestors}

s ||

You are this I am this - all these are unreal illusions.

Who has a body? Who has no body?

Who is dead? Who lives?

||

My ancestors were stupid and unintelligent.They discarded this kingdom (Self)

and enjoyed the perceived worlds.

||

All my ancestors were foolish,

They discarded such a wondrous vision (Self-state)

and enjoyed the suffering called the kingdom!

||


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Fie on that demon-worm, the wretched one without Self-knowledge,

who wallows in the earthly kingdom which is filled with wood, water and stone!

||

Having owned this earthen hut of worldly splendor for a few years,

what great thing did HiranyakaShipu achieve?

||

Discarding this Self-state only a fool will get satisfied, not a wise man.

Only a camel will leave the good creeper and go after the thorny plant;

not any other sensible animal!

||

Discarding this amazing vision, who will enjoy the horrible kingdom?

Which wise man will reject the sugarcane juice

and drink the sour liquid of the citrus fruit?

{Prahlaada rests in the Self}

||

I am the winner!

I have become birth less!

The world appearance is no more there for me!I have attained that which is to be attained!

I am the supreme!

I am alive and I am victorious too!

s ||


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Rejecting this excellent eternal kingdom of knowledge

I will no more enjoy the prosperities of the kingdom

which are filled with pain and are unpleasant.

||

Whatever happiness is not there in the tri-worlds even after obtaining the kingdom

is all there in the principle of Chit;

then why not enjoy it?

s

s||

||

Salutation

to the Self; myself; the undivided principle of Consciousness.

O the Gem of all the worlds!

You have been attained after a long time! Ah at last!

Salutation to myself; yourself; the endless one!

Salutation to myself; yourself; the auspicious Self!

Salutation

to the Supreme Lord of all lords; the Supreme one; the Supreme Self!


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CHAPTER NINE

Vasishta spoke

Contemplating on the Self in this manner, Prahlaada entered the Nirvikalpa Samaadhi

state.

He remained like a mountain painted on the canvas.

Years passed in great numbers.

Thousand years he remained in that state. He could not be woken up by anyone.

In his absence his demon world suffered much, unsupported by a king.

HiranyakaShipu was dead and his son was in Samaadhi.

There was no one to care for them or control them.

Many left that place. Everyone acted as they liked. Women were harassed. Rogues lootedall. Good ones cried for help. The nether world bore a forlorn look.

CHAPTER TEN

Vasishta spoke

Vishnu reclining on the serpent bed observed the wretched condition of Prahlaadas

kingdom. Worried that the very purpose of creation will go astray if the nether worldsperish, he decided to visit Prahlaada and teach him the methods of a JeevanMukta.

He entered the palace of Prahlaada along with his retinue.

He stood in front of Prahlaada and said-Wake up and blew his conch loudly.

Prahlaada slowly opened his eyes.

Vishnu said to him-

O Good one! Remember your kingdom and your form as a demon.

How can you reject the body before its time finishes?

What is there to reject or accept?

Get up! Wake up!

You have to act through this body till the end of the Kalpa.You rule the kingdom as a JeevanMukta till then.

Now it is not dissolution time. You cannot discard the body now.

Only those men who have no control over the mind deserve death; not you!

Only those men who have endless desires deserve death; not you!

He who is equal minded who has no attachments or hatred or fear towards anything is fit

to live.


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Only if the body is strong and stable do they call one alive; otherwise he is considered to

be dead.

You are freed of both states. You have nothing to do with death or life.

Though remaining in the body, you are body-less. You are in the state of the Self bereft

of the body.

The body called Prahlaada opened the eyes fully and the mind started acting once again.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Prahlaada spoke

Lord! I was tired a little because of prolonged thinking about the good or bad of

hundreds of affairs of the kingdom. So I fell into the rest state for a moment.

By your grace, now I am in my normal natural state of the Self.

Whether in the Samaadhi state or out of it, I do not feel any difference.

s

||

O Great God! You were seen inside for long through the untainted intellect.

Again, you are seen through the outward vision, Lord, by my fortune!

||

||

O Great Lord! I remained in this endless (inner) vision bereft of all conceptions,like the sky dissolved in the taintless sky.

not by grief, nor by delusion, not because of thoughts of dispassion,

Not by the act of discarding the body, not by the fear of worldly existence.

: ||


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When one alone is there,

where can there be grief,

where can there be injury,

where can there be body,

where can there be world,where can there be the bound state,

where can there be fear or fearless states?

||

Just by randomness,

just because it arose by itself,

I remained in that expansive sacred state just like that!

s

||

Only the unenlightened have such thoughts feeling happy and sad, O Lord,

like I am having dispassion I will renounce this world!

||

If the body is not there, pain will not be there.

Suffering belongs to the body alone.

That is my opinion.

Such an idea is a poisonous serpent pouncing on the fool alone.

||

This is happiness This is grief

This I dont have This I have

The mind oscillating like this strikes a fool, not the knower.

s

||


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I am different This one is different from me

Such a Vaasanaa belongs to the ignorant,

and dominates those who have thrown afar the Self-Knowledge,

here in this world of living beings.

||

This has to be rejected This has to be accepted

This type of incorrect mind-delusion belonging to the stupid intellect,

does not lead the knower towards insanity like it does to the ignorant.

||

O Lotus-eyed Lord!

When you are pervading everywhere as the essence of all,

how can there ever raise the ideas of low or high

based on the incorrect idea of a second one?

||

The entire world of real and unreal rises because of conceptual delusion.

What is lowly or higher here that something has to be rejected or not?

||

When by ones own nature, when analyzing the Seer and the Seen

I just for a second rested in the Self, by the Self, O Supreme Self!

||

Freed completely of the ideas of existence or non-existence,

without anything to be rejected or sought for,

I remained like that before!

Now I am like this (woken up by you)!


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||

That is now the Self!Everything has become the Self!

O Great Lord! I will do whatever you deem fit.

||

You, O Lotus-eyed Lord! You are worship-worthy in all the three worlds.

You must kindly accept the worship from me, which is but natural.

Having said these words, the king of the demons worshipped Lord Vishnu in due manner

offering Arghya etc.

Lord Vishnu performed the consecration ceremony personally and enthroned Prahlaada

as the sole emperor of demons.

He advised him to stop fighting with Gods and rule the kingdom as a JeevanMukta with

equal-mindedness towards all.

Then Vishnu vanished from that place.

||

Vishnu remained happily on the snake-bed.

Indra stayed in the heaven with the Gods.

The demon-king remained in the Nether-world.

Thus all were freed of all problems!

Rama, this story of Prahlaada was related to you for your enlightenment.

Even those who have been living a wicked life or immersed in pleasures can surely reachthe Supreme state if they start analyzing the truth with their intellects.


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CHAPTER TWELVE

Vasishta spoke

||

Ignorance is said to be the Sin.

It is destroyed by rational thinking.One should never discard completely the rational analysis

which uproots the sin fully.

Rama spoke

||

Hey Lord! How did the mind of great Prahlaada

wake up to the sound of the Paanchajanya conch,

when it was fully absorbed in the Supreme state?

Vasishta spoke

s ||

O Rama of taintless form!

In this world, there are two types of liberation;

one is with the body; other is freed of the body.

Listen to their differences.


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||

Know that as the state of Liberated while living,

when one has no attachments at all;and who has no botheration about the renunciation or acceptance of actions.

||

That state alone, O Rama, is freed of rebirths.

It is known as Bodiless liberation.

Those who remain in that state,

do not get the perceived phenomenon.

||

Like the crushed seeds they are freed of taking another birth again.

In the mind of the JeevanMuktas the Vaasanaa is very pure.

||

It is sacred; supremely munificent (without any desires);

always moving towards the state of the Self;

always in the contemplation of the Self.

It is like the deep sleep state.

||

Even after thousands of years, if they remain only in such a state,

The JeevanMuktas can wake up in a body,

O Scion of Raghu dynasty!

s

||


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Prahlaada woke up, O Mighty armed,

by his own pure Vaasanaa of the Self within,

by responding to the sound of the conch.

||

Hari is the Self of all.

What he perceives, that alone happens.

Self alone is the cause of everything.

||

Let Prahlaada wake upWhen Vaasudeva thought like this,

that alone happened instantly.

||

The Self which resides everywhere as Vaasudeva,

took a form indeed

for the purpose of Creation, within the Self,

for no reason, but for the sake of the beings.

||

By the realization of the Self, Maadhava is seen.

By worshipping Maadhava, the Self is realized.

||

Understanding this truth, Raaghava, pursue the path of Self-realization.

With enquiry as your essence,

you will attain the eternal state.


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||

This excessively terrifying deluding power of Vishnu

does not affect the courageous ones who have obtained the grace of the Self,like the ghostly spirit does not affect those empowered by the magical chant.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Rama spoke

||

Hey Lord! You know every thing that is to be known!

If everything is achieved by ones own hard effort,

then how did Prahlaada not get enlightenment without the boon granted by Vishnu?

(He got Self-knowledge by the help of Naaraayana, not through self-effort; is it not so?)

Vasishta spoke

||

Raaghava! Whatever was achieved by Prahlaada

was indeed the result of his effort only; not anything else!

||


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Self and Naaraayana are not different, like the gingili and its oil do not differ;

so the white cloth; so the fragrance of the flower.

||

He who is the all-pervading Vishnu is the Self.

He who is the Self is Vishnu.

Vishnu and the Self are synonymous words

like the words Vitapin (tree) and Paadapa (tree).

||

The Self called Prahlaada, at first, by itself,

by its own supreme power, was directed towards the devotion for Vishnu.

||

Prahlaada got the boon by himself by his Self.

He made the mind reason out by himself

and attained the knowledge by himself.

||

Sometimes the Self by the Self by its own power gets enlightenment.

Sometimes its gets taught through the form of Vishnu

as a result of devotion.

s

||

Even if worshipped for long,

even if very much favored,

Vishnu cannot give knowledge to a man of non-enquiry,


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||

In the realization of the Self,

the important factor is enquiry rising out of ones own effort.Boon etc are all just secondary factors.

Be involved in the main factor.

{If one desires to realize the Self, and starts practicing Enquiry, then the boon given by a God will just

support that enquiry-process. No God can bestow knowledge through a boon.}

||

In the beginning itself,

forcefully bring under control all the five organs of knowledge.

Practice with full effort and make the mind turn towards enquiry.

||

Whatever is obtained, anything, by whomsoever, wherever,

is attained only because of ones own power; not due to anything else.

||

Taking resort to effort and trying sincerely,

jumping over the mountain of the senses,

cross over the ocean of worldly existence,

and reach the other shore, the Supreme state.

||

If Lord Vishnu can be seen (as the Self) without any effort at all,

then why does the Unborn not raise up the bird and animal species

to the higher state (Self-knowledge)?


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||

If the Guru can raise up the student without any effort on his side,

then why does he not help raise up the camel, or a tamed ox to the higher state?

||

That supreme state of the Self which gets achieved

by controlling the mind through the effort of the Self itself,

can not be attained

by pleasing Vishnu or a Guru or through wealth.

||

That which gets achieved by subduing the sense-serpent,

through practice and dispassion,

does not get attained even if one owns the three worlds.

||

Propitiate the Self by the Self.

Worship the Self by the Self.

Visualize the Self by the Self, and

be established in the Self by the Self.

||

For the fools who wanted to escape

the practice of enquiry and the study of scriptures,

the devotion of Vishnu was invented,

so that they can be made to turn towards the good path.


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||

The Practice (of disciplines prescribed for an aspirant) and sincere effort

together form the first rule.If that is missing, then the methodical worships of the favored deities become baseless.

||

If the sense-control is there, then what use are the worships offered to deities?

If there is no sense-control, then what use are the worships offered to deities?

||

Lord Vishnu cannot be reached

without the practice of Vichaara (enquiry) and Upashama (Quiescence).

For one who is bereft of Vichaara and Upashama,

what can even a Vishnu (one who holds a lotus in hand) do?

||

Propitiate the mind which is endowed with Vichaara and Upashama.

If that is perfected, then you are also a Person of excellence (God).

Otherwise, you are just a wild donkey!

||

If one has to please the Gods like Vishnu through prayers filled with love,

then why does not one do the same with the mind?

||


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Lord Vishnu resides within each and every being.

Ignoring him (who is within), those who seek him outside

are the worst category of men.

||

The principle of consciousness which resides in the cave of the heart

is the original form that is the most ancient.

The form holding the conch, discus, and mace (Vishnu)

is just a secondary form conceived by the Self.

||

He who ignores the original true one and chases the secondary form of a deity,

equals a man who throws away the already prepared potion of excellence (nectar)

and engages himself in producing the ingredient (and wastes his time).

||

s

||

He who has not been able to attain the amazing state of self-knowledge

he alone feels elated in the mind (by a form), O Rama!

Having not attained the knowledge of the Self,

acting a slave to the ignorant mind,

he worships the Supreme Lord as adorned by the conch, discus and mace.

||

Slowly, in course of time, by worshipping the Lord through difficult austerities,

the devotees mind develops dispassion and becomes taintless.

||


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By the continuous practice of discrimination and other disciplines,

the mind gets prepared (for the higher state.)

Little by little it grows like a mango tree getting filled by flowers and fruits.

||

O Slayer of enemies!

Even here, the Self alone bestows fruit on itself

as stated in the scriptures,

where the fruit is obtained by means of worshipping Lord Vishnu.

||

He who gets the boon granted by Lord Vishnu of unlimited luster,

he gets it because of his own effort

which fructifies by the ripeness of his practices (of Viveka, Upashama etc.)

||

The excellent state to be achieved among all,the ground for the production of all long lasting prosperities is

the control of ones mind, like earth is the source of all plant-life.

s

s ||

Even if the whole earth has to be dug (as by Sagaras sons),

even if a huge mountain has to be moved

(as the Manthara Mountain churned by gods and demons),

except for the control of ones mind, there is no other means to achieve such things.

||

As long as the turbulent ocean of the mind does not get quietened,

men wander on this earth going through thousands of births (and deaths).


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s ||

Even if Gods like Brahma, Vishnu, Indra and Rudra are worshipped for long,though they feel very compassionate,

unless the mind-disease has been subjugated,

they cannot save the devotee.

||

Renouncing completely the sense perceptions

which shine forth as various shapes;

which are perceived outside (through senses);

which are sought by the mind;

contemplate on the pure (undifferentiated) awareness alone

which is free of births and deaths.

||

Relish alone, the state of pure consciousness, the essence of all,

which is bereft of perceptions,

which is free of afflictions,which is undivided self-knowledge alone,

and which is eternal and unchanging.

You will cross over the river of births (and deaths),

and reach the Supreme.

PART FOUR OF

SECTION FIVE UPASHAMA PRAKARANAM

COMPLETE


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About the Author:

Maa Tejasvini

The author spent many years doing research on ancient Sanskrit texts in the Himalayan

region. She was exposed to many unique spiritual experiences which are beyond human

comprehension.

Her mission in life was to translate all renowned spiritual texts and literature of Sanskrit

and bring them to the light of the public.


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Documents

YogaVasishta Upashama Prakaranam--Part-4.pdf